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What is work

May 21, 2006 - 6:17am — Whoa Nellie

Students in India are up in arms over the governments decision to reserve spots in medical schools for the most unfortunate members of society. In reading some of the opinions of the students being interviewed, I could not help but wonder about the values and pressures young Indian students are under.

Well personally I think that is kind of sick since the regular work day here in America and most countries is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and most tenured Academics sort of disappear most of the time anyways. Americans have to compete with these zealots and its scary.

Why do they do it? According to Miranda Kennedy, writing from India, a student who graduates from one of the six Indian Institutes of Technology or IIT is virtually guaranteed a fast track to get jobs and is even more celebrated than a Harvard grad.
Some go on to huge success in the US, like Vinod Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems. Ankur has already landed a high paying job with Bell Labs. After he graduates later this month, he'll join a small, elite team of guys working on cutting-edge security research in India.

Are we all eventually going to be working harder for less just because a bunch of people with no life want it that way ?

Comments

Some Indians work very hard. Fear not, productivity is still very high in the US. You have to remember that India has a population of over a billion and they have a huge almost permanent underclass. The literacy rate in India is 59% and the US literacy rate is somewhere around 99%. The Indian GDP $3.699 trillion and the U.S. GDP is $12.47 trillion. Source is the CIA factbook. If India continues to liberalizes its economy, then India will have a bright future.

Many Americans work more than 8 to 5. Refering to academics as models for productivity is laughable.